The administration of the Centro Hospitalar do Algarve (CHA) is looking for doctors in the specialties of General Surgery, Orthopedics and others, to strengthen the teams of hospitals in Faro and from Portimão.
In view of the complaint made in recent days, of lack of orthopedic doctors in the emergency department of the Algarve hospital units, last weekend, and the announced unavailability of surgeons at the Hospital de Faro to ensure the Emergency, from the 1st of August, the chairman of the Board of Directors of the CHA told the Sul Informação who are “working to fill the gaps”.
«We are working in this direction, we are contacting companies, opening hiring procedures to strengthen teams», namely regarding General Surgery.
Joaquim Ramalho also referred to the request that both CHA and the Regional Health Administration of the Algarve made to the Minister of Health, to reissue last year's order, which made it possible to streamline the mobility of part-time professionals. "As a result, Orthopedics gained new leadership and another doctor stayed with us," said the person in charge.
That responsible also guaranteed, but his statements to the Sul Informação, that there was no shortage of orthopedic doctors in the Emergency Department of hospital units in Faro and from Portimão, during the weekend.
"On Sunday, we had three orthopedic doctors during the day and four at night," guaranteed Joaquim Ramalho.
As for the announced unavailability of the Hospital de Faro to ensure the Emergency, in August, revealed by the newspaper «Correio da Manhã» last Saturday, the person responsible for the CHA admits that, «in General Surgery, it is in fact a reality that we lack professionals». This causes existing surgeons to have an "extraordinary workload, which exceeds the maximum limits prescribed by law".
Joaquim Ramalho stressed that this lack of surgeons «is not exclusive to the Algarve», being «a reality in hospitals across the country».
With regard to the alleged lack of an orthopedist over the past weekend, especially yesterday, Sunday, it had also been denounced by the "Correio da Manhã" on 6 July, based on information released by the social-democratic deputy Cristóvão North.
The news referred to a circular signed by the clinical director of the CHA, establishing a contingency organization, effective from 1 July to 30 September, in which “situations in which there is no scale” of Orthopedics were recognized.
The same news from the CM also spoke of the difficulties in Infectiology, where, «due to the incapacity of human resources for a 24-hour schedule, it will support the specialty from 09:00 am to 21:00 pm, from Monday to Friday, to all hospitalizations and all sectors of the Emergency”. A situation to which an addendum would later have been made, reducing the period to 9:00 am to 19:00 pm.
On the other hand, it added the same contingency plan defined by clinical director Carlos Santos, to address the lack of doctors, users referred to the «specialties of General Surgery, Gynecology/Obstetrics, Ophthalmology, Otorhinolaryngology, Orthopedics and Neurosurgery, after screened, will be forwarded directly to the respective specialty».
The president of the Board of Directors of the Hospital Center reacts to this information saying that "the difficulties that the CHA has in some specialties are known, but we have managed to assure, with rare exceptions, the teams of the Emergency Department."
As for the issue of Infectious Diseases, Joaquim Ramalho stresses that it is a “support speciality”, which “is not even part of the portfolio of specialties of a multipurpose emergency room”. Thus, he argues, Infectious Diseases, in the Emergency Room, only “reinforce Internal Medicine, since both specialties work in the same area”.
Regarding the referral of patients screened directly to the specialties, the president of the CHA assures that, with this practice, "it wins on both sides - the patient wins, because he does not have to go to the hospital emergency counter, and the others win patients who go directly to the Emergency Room, because there are fewer cases reaching the counter and so, on both sides, less time is wasted».
«For example, a patient who is seen in a SUB [Basic Emergency Service, existing in Vila Real de Santo António, Loulé, Albufeira and Lagos], it makes no sense for a patient to arrive at the hospital in Faro and having to go to the counter again if already screened by the SUB. Screening allows a clear indication to be seen by the specialty, so when the patient arrives at the hospital of Faro». It is, according to Joaquim Ramalho, a “measure to organize the flow of patients, in order to avoid the congestion of the Emergency Room”.
The head of the CHA also admits that "there is a shortage of anesthetists". But solving the lack of doctors in this and other specialties, he stresses, "is not easy". "We continue to work to hire professionals", he assured, in his statements to the Sul Informação.
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